Multi-functional clipless pedal

ABSTRACT

A pedal including a main body having a first side and a second side, the first side of the main body defining a first clipless retaining structure, and the second side of the main body defining a second clipless retaining structure. The first clipless retaining structure is a road bike clipless retaining structure and the second clipless retaining structure is a mountain bike clipless retaining structure. The pedal can include a cleat adapter for installation into the first clipless retaining structure wherein the cleat adapter includes a lock mechanism to fix the cleat adapter in the first clipless retaining structure. The lock mechanism has a locked position to fix the cleat adapter in the first clipless retaining structure, and an unlocked position to allow the cleat adapter to release from the first clipless retaining structure.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to pedals for use on a pedal-driven apparatus,and more particularly to a multi-functional pedal having differentclipless structures on either side, and that can receive a cleat adapterincluding a toe clip.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of clipless pedals has become popular with both road andmountain bike enthusiasts. There are two general types of cliplesspedals, one for road bicycles and one for mountain bicycles. Thedifference is a result of the fact that mountain bicycle enthusiastsoften have to walk and pull or carry their bicycles many times during aride. Walking is difficult where traditional road style clipless pedalsare used since the corresponding cleat that is secured in the cliplesspedal extends from the sole of the cycle shoe. Mountain bike cliplesspedals are designed to work with cleats that are recessed or flush withthe sole of the cycle shoe, so walking is not seriously impeded, ifimpeded at all.

Clipless pedals allow the user to use energy more efficiently becausethe user's feet are fairly rigidly attached to the pedals. This allowsthe user to pull upwardly in the up stroke, as well as apply more forcein the top-dead-center and bottom-dead-center pedal positions.

One drawback of clipless pedals is that usually only one type ofclipless pedal is used on a bicycle at a time. If a user wishes toswitch between a road style clipless pedal and a mountain bike style ofclipless pedal, the road style pedals must be removed and the mountainbike style pedals installed.

Recently, combination pedals have been introduced that include aclipless pedal structure on one side and a standard pedal on the other.This allows the user to use one type of clipless structure with itsattendant efficiencies on one side of the pedal, but then only use astandard pedal, with no special efficiencies, with the other side of thepedal.

There is lacking in the art a single pedal structure that allows one touse road style clipless pedal structure, mountain bike style cliplesspedal structure, or a toe clip structure. This type of pedal would beparticularly useful in an application on an exercise bicycle where userscould thus choose the pedal style they are most comfortable with fortheir exercise session.

It is with the shortcomings of the prior art in mind that the modularload bearing field support system of the present invention has beendeveloped.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant invention addresses a single pedal including both road styleclipless and mountain bike style clipless capabilities, as well as toeclip capabilities when a cleat adapter is utilized.

The instant invention contemplates a pedal including a main body havinga first side and a second side, the first side of the main body defininga first clipless retaining structure, and the second side of the mainbody defining a second clipless retaining structure.

The instant invention also contemplates a pedal including a main bodyhaving a first side and a second side, the first side of the main bodydefining a first clipless retaining structure, and the second side ofthe main body defining a second clipless retaining structure. The firstclipless retaining structure is a road bike clipless retaining structureand the second clipless retaining structure is a mountain bike cliplessretaining structure.

The instant invention also contemplates a pedal as above with a cleatadapter for installation into the first clipless retaining structurewherein the cleat adapter includes a lock mechanism to fix the cleatadapter in the first clipless retaining structure. The lock mechanismhas a locked position to fix the cleat adapter in the first cliplessretaining structure, and an unlocked position to allow the cleat adapterto release from the first clipless retaining structure.

The instant invention also contemplates a pedal including a main bodyhaving a first side, the first side of the main body defining a firstclipless retaining structure, a cleat adapter having a base member, thebase member receivable in the first clipless retaining structure, andmeans for locking the cleat adapter to the base member.

The instant invention also contemplates a pedal including a main bodyhaving a first side, the first side of the main body defining a firstclipless retaining structure, a cleat adapter having a base member, thebase member receivable in the first clipless retaining structure, and alocking mechanism to lock the cleat adapter to the base member. Thelocking mechanism can include a pin extending from the base member and arecess formed on the main body for receiving the pin. In addition, amember can be attached on the top surface of the base member and bemovable between a locked and unlocked position, with the pin attached tothe pivot member and extending from the base member when in the lockedposition and retracting into the base member in the unlocked position.

A more complete appreciation of the present invention and its scope canbe obtained from understanding the accompanying drawings, which arebriefly summarized below, the following detailed description of thepresently preferred embodiments of the invention, and the appendedclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the pedal of the present invention,showing the road style of the clipless pedal and the adapter cleathaving a toe clip formed thereon.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the pedal of the present invention,showing the adapter cleat inserted into the road style cliplessstructure of the pedal of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2, showing thetwist-restraint locking mechanism of the present invention formed in theadapter cleat.

FIG. 4 is a section taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1, showing the adaptercleat of the present invention prior to insertion into the road styleclipless structure of the pedal.

FIG. 5 is a multi-level section taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 4, showingthe axle structure and resilient spring structure of the road sideclipless pedal.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the mountain bike style clipless structure on aside of the pedal.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the road style clipless structure on one sideof the pedal.

FIG. 8 is a section taken along line 8--8 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is an exploded schematic view of the pivot member of the lockingmechanism prior to insertion of the pin into the pin recess.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the pivot member of the locking mechanismwith the pin inserted in the pin recess.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the pivot member of the locking mechanismwith the pivot member pivoted about the pivot point to retract the pinfrom the pin recess.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A two-sided pedal 20 and associated adapter cleat 22 of the presentinvention, prior to the attachment of the cleat to the pedal, are shownin FIG. 1. The two-sided pedal 20 has a main body 24 having road styleclipless retaining structure 26 on a first side 28, and a mountain bikestyle clipless retaining structure 30 (FIG. 6) on a second side 31. Themain body 24 is rotatably mounted on an axle shaft 32 to allow the mainbody to rotate around the axle shaft as is conventionally known. Theaxle shaft is attached to an end of a crank-arm (not shown) on a drivetrain of a pedal-driven apparatus, such as a bicycle or exerciseapparatus.

The road style clipless pedal 26 on the first side 28 of the main body24 includes opposing front 34 and rear 36 edges, and opposing side edges38. The front 34 and rear 36 edges each form receptors 40 and 42 forcorresponding front 44 and rear 46 edges of the adapter cleat 22, asdescribed below. A recess 48 is formed on the first side 28 of the mainbody 24 between the front 34 and rear 36 edges, and forms part of thelocking mechanism structure, as further described below.

The second side 31 of the main body 24 defines a mountain bike styleclipless structure 30 (see FIGS. 3, 4, 6, and 8), such as that set forthin U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,415, issued Dec. 2, 1997 to Lin, entitled"Bicycle Pedal Having Two Surfaces For Coupling To A Bicycle Shoe",hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The adapter cleat 22 includes a base 50 member having top 52 and bottom54 opposing sides, and front 44, rear 46 and opposing side edges 60. Atoe clip 62 is attached to the adapter cleat 22 at the front 44 andopposing side edges 60, and extends over the top side 52 of the basemember 50. The toe clip 62 includes a front portion 64, typically madeof plastic, that attaches at one end 66 to the front edge 44 of thecleat 22, and extends forwardly, upwardly and rearwardly therefrom toterminate in a second end 68 extending over the top side of the basemember 50. Flexible side portions 70 extend from the second end 68 ofthe front portion 64 to each of the side edges 60 of the base member 50.The flexible side portions 70 are adjustable in length, such as by useof the buckle 72, to adjust the size of the opening 74 of the toe clip62 defined by the side portions 70 and the second end 68 of the frontportion 64. The toe clip 62 holds the adapter cleat 22 on a person'sfoot relatively tightly, but allows the foot to be inserted and removedthrough the opening 74.

The front edge 44 of the adapter cleat 22 is formed to be received inthe front receptor 40 of the road style clipless structure 26. The rearedge 58 of the adapter cleat 22 is formed to be received in the rearreceptor 42 of the road style clipless structure 26. A pivoting member76, forming part of the locking mechanism structure 77, is positioned onthe base member 50 between the front 44 and rear 46 edges thereof. Thepivoting mechanism 76 moves between an unlocked position (shown in dashin FIG. 3 and solid in FIG. 4) and a locked position (shown in dash inFIG. 3 and solid in FIG. 4). When in the locked position, the pivotmechanism 76 is flush with the top side 52 of the base member 50, and apin 78 extends from the bottom surface 54 of the base member 50 (seeFIGS. 3 and 4). When in the unlocked position, the front end 80 of thepivot mechanism 76 is above the top side of the base member 50 and thepin 78 does not extend from the bottom side 54 of the base member (seeFIGS. 3 and 4), and the rear end 82 of the pivot mechanism 76 is belowthe top side of the base member 50.

The adapter cleat 22 is shown inserted into the road style cliplessstructure 26 of the pedal 20 in FIG. 2. The front edge 44 of the basemember 50 of the cleat adapter 22 is received in the front receptor 40of the pedal 20, and the rear edge 46 of the base member 50 of the cleatadapter 22 is received in the rear receptor 42 of the pedal 20. Thebottom side 54 of the base member 50 of the cleat adapter 22 is adjacentto and preferably touching the top side 28 of the main body 24 of thepedal. The pivot mechanism 76 can move between the locked and unlockedposition when the cleat adapter 22 is attached to the pedal 20. When inthe locked position, the pin 78 extends into the pin recess 48 on thetop surface of the pedal 20. When in the unlocked position, the pin 78is retracted from the pin recess 48. The pivot mechanism 76 ispreferably biased to the locked position, and can be moved to theunlocked position by pressing the rear end 82 of the pivot member 76downwardly to force the front end 80 upwardly, which retracts the pin 78from the pin recess 48. The function and structure of the lock mechanism76 is described in more detail below.

The instant invention is created to allow a user to attach to a pedal 20regardless if a road style clipless structure is required, or a mountainbike style clipless structure is required, or if a toe cage is required.The pedal 20 has one side with a road style clipless structure formedthereon, one side with a mountain bike style clipless structure formedthereon, and a cleat adapter which can be used with either the roadstyle or mountain bike style clipless structure to allow the attachmentof a toe clip. When used on a bicycle or other pedal-actuated apparatussuch as an exercise bicycle or other type of exercise equipment, it isdesirable that the cleats be removable from the clipless structures.However, it is desired that the cleat adapter 22 not be releasable, whenthe user's foot is in place in the toe clip 62, from the cliplessstructure since the user can simply remove his or her foot from the toeclip 62 in a conventional manner. Thus, the locking mechanism 77 isincluded on the cleat adapter 22 to keep the cleat adapter from twistingwith respect to the clipless structure on the pedal 20 to effect arelease of the cleat adapter, as is described in greater detail below.

The cleat adapter 22 with locking mechanism 77 is described hereinpreferably as used with a road style clipless structure 26 as anexample. The road style clipless structure 26, as best shown in FIGS. 3,4, 5, and 8 normally operates to securely receive a cleat attached to acyclist's shoe. Typically the cleat for use with a road style cliplessstructure secures to and extends outwardly from the sole of thecyclist's shoe. The bottom of the cleat adapter 22 has the samestructure as a standard cleat alone, one of which is described herein.The front edge 44 and a rear edge 46, each form a rib 84 and 86,respectively, for receipt in the front receptor 40 and rear receptor 42of the main body 24 of the pedal 20, respectively. The road styleclipless structure 26 retains the cleat adapter as the cyclist pedals,generally applying upwardly-directed force on the front receptor 40 andthe rear receptor 42 structure. In this way the cyclist can utilize theup stroke of the pedal movement (by pulling upwardly on the pedal, sincethe cleat is retained in the clipless structure), not just the downstroke of the pedal movement. Ideally, the cleat adapter 22 is able tomove slightly in the lateral plane (of the top surface of the main bodyof the pedal) when the cleat adapter is retained in the road styleclipless structure 26 to alleviate orientation issues which can affectthe cyclist's knees.

The cleat adapter 22 can be removed from the road style cliplessstructure 26 typically by twisting the rear edge 46 of the cleatoutwardly (away from the crank arm to which the pedal is attached) inthe lateral plane (of the top surface of the main body of the pedal)with respect to the pedal 20. Normally, the rear receptor 42 on the mainbody of the pedal 20 is pivotally attached to the main body, and isspring-loaded to be biased in a retaining or clamping position. Twistingthe cleat adapter 22 so that the rear edge is preferably moved outwardlyworks against the spring loaded rear receptor 42 and overcomes thespring-loaded bias to release the rear edge 46 of the cleat adapter 22.Typically, when the cleat adapter 22 is twisted it is pivoted about theengagement point of the front edge 44 of the cleat adapter 22 with thefront receptor 42 of the pedal. Under this system, for a left pedalattached to a left crank arm the cleat adapter can be twisted clockwiseto effect release. For a right pedal attached to a right crank arm, thecleat adapter 22 can be twisted counter-clockwise to effect release.This type of release system is well known or available in the art.Twisting the cleat either inwardly or outwardly will cause the releaseof the cleat adapter from the clipless structure 26. This type ofrelease system reduces the chance that the cleat adapter 22 willunintentionally release during use (movement of the crank arm) when theforces applied by the cleat adapter to the pedal are mainly in theupward and downward, not twisting, direction.

A suitable road style clipless structure 26 described above includes butis not limited to the Exus model E-1 or E-7, as shown in the Exus CycleProducts Catalog, Printed August 1997, copyright 1997, and availablefrom Exus Enterprise Company Ltd., 816 Chang Sheng Road, Waipu 438,Taichung County, Taiwan, R.O.C., which is a division of V.P. ComponentsCompany Ltd., of the same address. Suitable cleats for use with the roadstyle clipless structure 26 includes but is not limited to the E-BLK1and E-ARC1, also by Exus, and also shown in the Exus Cycle ProductsCatalog, Printed August 1997.

The front 40 and rear 42 receptors of the road style clipless structure26 are shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. The front receptor 40 is a rigid loop100 extending forwardly from the main body, having opposing sides 102and a front portion 104 between the two sides. The front portion 104forms a rearwardly extending overhanging flange 106. The rib or tab 84of the front edge 44 of the cleat adapter 22 fits into the frontreceptor 40 between the opposing sides 102, and extends under the flange106. The flange 106 engages the rib 84 of the front edge 44 of the cleatadapter 22 and keeps the cleat adapter 22 from moving freely upwardlywith respect to the pedal. The side walls 102 keep the front edge 44 ofthe cleat adapter 22 adequately centered and positioned underneath theflange 106 to insure that the front edge 44 of the cleat adapter 22 doesnot disengage from the flange 106 by moving laterally.

One end 108 of the rear receptor 42 is pivotally attached at a pivotpoint 109 to the inside rear corner of the main body of the pedal 20.The opposing end 110 of the rear receptor 42 is biased in a retaining orclamped position against the main body by a strong spring 112, as shownin FIGS. 5 and 8. The spring 112 is anchored to the main body at one endand to the rear receptor 42 at the other end. The rear receptor 42defines a recess 114 along its length bounded on the top by anoverhanging, forwardly extending flange 116. The rib 86 on the rear edge46 of the cleat adapter 22 fits under and engages the rear flange 116 ofthe pedal. The rear flange 116 keeps the rear edge 46 of the cleatadapter 22 from moving upwardly with respect to the pedal 20.

To insert the cleat adapter 22 into the road style clipless structure26, the front edge 44 of the cleat adapter 22 is positioned under theflange 106 of the front receptor 40. The rear edge 46 of the cleatadapter is then forced against the rear receptor 42 in a downwardlydirection. An angled surface 118 on the rear receptor 42 directs thedownward force of the cleat adapter 22 in a rearward direction to pivotthe rear receptor 42 against the spring 112 about the rear inside cornerof the pedal. The rear edge 46 of the cleat adapter 22 then movesdownwardly a sufficient distance to insert into the recess 114 formed inthe rear receptor 42, allowing the spring 112 to bias the rear receptor42 back to the clamping position against the pedal 20 (FIG. 3), andcause the rib 86 of the rear edge 46 of the cleat adapter 22 to engagethe forwardly extending rear flange 116. The cleat adapter 22 is thusheld in position on the pedal 20 in the road style clipless structure26. The cleat adapter 22 is removable from the road style cliplessstructure 26 when the rear edge 46 of the cleat adapter 22 is twistedoutwardly to cause the rear receptor 42 to pivot against the force ofthe spring 112 and allow the rear rib 86 to disengage from the rearflange 116 of the rear receptor 42.

As noted above, the cleat adapter 22 is desired to be fixed, when theuser's foot is positioned in the top clip 62, in the clipless pedal 20since the cleat adapter 22 includes a toe clip 62, which allows the userto remove their feet from the pedal at any time by removing their footfrom the toe clip. A locking mechanism 77 has been included in the cleatadapter 22 for insertion into the pin recess 48 formed in the main bodyof the pedal 20 to keep the cleat adapter 22 from being twisted in theclipless pedal when the locking mechanism 77 is engaged (see FIG. 3).The locking mechanism 77 includes a member, such as the pivot member 76positioned in a recess 120 formed in the top surface of the cleatadapter 22, and a pin 78 extending downwardly from the front portion 80of the pivot member 76. As noted above, the pin 78 extends from thelower surface of the cleat adapter 22 when the pivot member 76 is in thelocked position, and retracts to be flush with or above the bottomsurface of the cleat adapter 22 when the pivot member 76 is in theunlocked position. The cleat adapter 22 is positioned in the cliplessstructure as described above, with the final step of moving the pivotmember 76 to the flush position, which inserts the pin 78 into the pinrecess 48, as described below. The cleat adapter 22 is removed from theclipless structure by moving the pivot member 76 to the unlockedposition to retract the pin 78 from the pin recess 48, and twisting thecleat adapter 22 to disengage it from the clipless structure 26.

The locking mechanism 77 of the cleat adapter 22 is described below inmore detail with respect to FIGS. 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11. The pivot member76 is positioned in a recess 120 having an angular floor 122 in the topsurface of the cleat adapter. A pin 124 extends from the sidewalls 126of the recess 120 and through the pivot member 76 to pivotally attachthe pivot member thereto. The floor 122 of the recess below the frontportion 80 of the pivot member is substantially parallel to the topsurface of the cleat adapter 22 such that when the pivot member 76 is inthe locked position, the pivot member 76 is flush with the top surfaceof the cleat adapter 22. The floor of the recess 122 below the rearportion 82 of the pivot member 76 angles downwardly to allow the rearportion 82 to be pivoted into the cleat adapter 22, which causes thefront portion 80 to be pivoted upwardly, which retracts the pin 78 intothe cleat adapter 22 (the unlocked position). The pivot member 76 ismoved to the unlocked position by pushing the rear portion 82 of thepivot member 76 downwardly into the recess 120. The pivot member 76 ispreferably biased, by gravity or otherwise (such as by a spring), intothe locked position to keep the pin 78 in the pin recess 48, thus notallowing the cleat adapter 22 to accidentally release, and to keep thefront portion 80 of the pivot member 76 from interfering with the soleof the user's shoe.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pin 78 is fixed to and extends downwardlyfrom the front portion 80 of the pivot member 76, preferably at an acuteangle to the length of the pivot member. The pin 78 is positionedthrough an aperture 128 formed in the cleat adapter 22 from the floor ofthe recess 120 through the bottom surface of the cleat adapter 22. Theangle of attachment of the pin 78 to the pivot member 76 is such thatwhen in the unlocked position, the pin 78 extends substantially at 90degrees to the cleat adapter 22, and when in the locked position, thepin 78 extends at an acute angle downwardly and rearwardly of the cleatadapter 22. The pin 78 extends from the bottom surface of the cleatadapter 22 to approximately 5 mm. It can extend more for certaindesigns, but 5 mm has been found to be sufficient to resist the twist ofthe cleat adapter in the clipless pedal. The cross section of the pin 78is preferably square or rectangular, but can be triangular, oval, orcircular as desired. The pin recess 48 should be formed to substantiallyresemble the cross sectional shape of the pin 78.

The pin recess 48 is formed in the top surface of the pedal 20 forreceiving the pin 78 when the pivot member 76 is in the locked position.The pin recess 48 is dimensioned so as to closely fit the pin 78 in thelateral dimension (extending between the opposing sides 38 of thepedal). This close fit allows the pin 78 to engage the sidewalls 126 ofthe pin recess 48 in the pedal quickly upon any twisting of the cleatadapter 22 by the user. The front 130 and rear 132 sidewalls of the pinrecess 48 in the pedal can be loosely dimensioned to allow the pin 78 tomove through a slight vertical arc during insertion into and extractionfrom the pin recess 48. The fit of the pin 78 in the pin recess 48(locked position) causes the pin 78 to engage the sidewalls 126 of thepin recess 48 to keep the cleat adapter 22 from twisting with respect tothe pedal 20, and thus locks the cleat adapter 22 into the cliplessstructure.

The cleat adapter 22 is removed from the clipless structure 26 by movingthe pivot member 76 into the unlocked position to extract the pin 78from the pin recess 48, which allows the cleat adapter 22 to twist withrespect to the pedal and be release from the clipless structure 26, asdescribed above. Typically, as noted above, the cleat adapter 22 istwisted about the point of engagement of the front edge 44 of the cleatadapter 22 and the front receptor 40, which would cause the pin 78 toattempt to move through a horizontal arc.

In clipless structure designs where the cleat adapter 22 is twistedabout its center or about the position of the pin 78 in the lockedposition, the pin 78 should not have a circular cross section because itwould not restrict the twisting motion of the cleat adapter 22 since thepin 78 would rotate about its own longitudinal axis. Instead, the pin 78should be square or rectangular, and the pin recess 48 similarly shapedto resist the twisting motion. The rear wall 132 of the pin recess maybe as closely dimensioned to the pin 78 as the sidewalls 126 are tocreate further physical engagement surfaces to inhibit the twistingmotion.

Referring to FIGS. 9, 10 and 11, the interaction of the pin 78 of thepivot member 76 and the pin recess 48 on the main body of the pedal isshown. FIG. 9 shows the orientation of the pivot member 76, anddepending pin 78, with respect to the pin recess 48 on the road styleclipless structure 26. FIG. 10 shows the pivot member 76 in the lockedposition and the pin 78 inserted into the pin recess 48 (analogous toFIG. 3). The sides 134 of the pin 78 engage the sidewalls 126 of the pinrecess 48 to resist any lateral or twisting movement of the pin 78 (fromthe cleat adapter). FIG. 11 shows the pivot member 76 moved to theunlocked position, with the rear portion 82 of the pivot member 76 moveddownwardly in a rotation around the pivot pin 78. This downward movementof the rear portion 82 of the pivot member 76 retracts the pin 78 fromthe pin recess 48 to allow the cleat adapter 22 to twist and be removedfrom the road style clipless structure 26 of the pedal.

While the cleat adapter 22 with locking mechanism 77 has been describedas being built into the road style clipless structure 26, it iscontemplated that it could be built into the mountain bike styleclipless structure 30 (commonly known as SPD) noted above with requiredstructural variations. A mountain bike style clipless structure is shownin FIG. 6, which is similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,692,415, which was incorporated herein by reference above. The cleatis removable from the clipless structure again by a twisting motion. Thelocking mechanism 77 of a cleat adapter 22 for use on this structurewould inhibit the twisting motion, and thus keep the cleat adapter 22retained in the clipless structure 26.

The multi-function pedal 20 and the cleat adapter 22 with lockingmechanism 77 described herein allow one pedal type to be used on abicycle or other pedal-actuated apparatus. The one multi-function pedalwould allow the user to choose between use of cycling shoes with roadstyle cleats, mountain bike style cleats, or normal shoes using thecleat adapter 22 on the pedal 20. This multi-use feature is especiallyvaluable to pedal driven apparatus used by a variety of people, such asan exercise bicycle at an exercise facility.

If the cleat adapter 22 is used, the cleat adapter 22 is locked onto theclipless pedal 20 by the locking mechanism 77 which keeps the cleatadapter 22 from disconnecting from the pedal 20. This is importantbecause when toe clips 62 are used, the forces applied to the pedal bythe user are not as uniformly up and down as when the user is attachedto the pedals by a clipless structure. Thus, there is a chance thatwithout the locking mechanism the toe clip 62 could allow the user totwist the cleat adapter 22 out of the clipless structure during use.

A presently preferred embodiment of the present invention and many ofits improvements have been described with a degree of particularity. Itshould be understood that this description has been made by way ofexample, and that the invention is defined by the scope of the followingclaims.

We claim:
 1. A pedal comprising:a main body including a first side, thefirst side of the main body defining a first clipless retainingstructure; a cleat adapter including a base member, said base memberreceivable in said first clipless retaining structure; and a lockingmechanism to lock said cleat adapter to said base member, said lockingmechanism including a pin extending from said base member and a recessformed on said main body for receiving said pin.
 2. A pedal as definedin claim 1, wherein:a member is attached on the top surface of said basemember and is movable between a locked and unlocked position; said pinis attached to said member and extends from said base member when insaid locked position and retracts into said base member in said unlockedposition.
 3. A pedal as defined in claim 2, wherein:said member ispivotally attached to said base member, and is pivotable to move betweensaid locked and unlocked positions.
 4. A pedal as defined in claim 2,wherein:said member has a front portion and a rear portion; and said pinis attached to said front portion.
 5. A pedal as defined in claim 4,wherein:said pin extends at a fixed acute angle to said member.
 6. Apedal as defined in claim 5, wherein:said pin has a rectangular crosssection.
 7. A pedal as defined in claim 5, wherein:said recess has arectangular cross section.
 8. A pedal as defined in claim 2,wherein:said pin has a lateral dimension; and said recess has a lateraldimension sized to closely fit said pin.
 9. A pedal as defined in claim1, wherein said recess is open on one end.